Choose 3 For Florida House Seats

Three contests for Broward County seats in the state House of Representatives will be decided in the Nov. 8 election.

The Editorial Board makes the following recommendations of candidates:

DISTRICT 89 BEN GRABER, DEMOCRAT

Dr. Ben Graber, a Coral Springs gynecologist, should be elected as a state representative from District 89. He defeated incumbent Rep. Joe Titone in the Sept. 6 Democratic primary.

Graber, 40, belongs to various local Democratic clubs and civic groups and has experience in campaigning and fund-raising for local candidates. He is the physician legislative contact for the Florida and Broward County Medical Associations to the local legislative delegation.

If elected, he lists three main priorities:

Improving the education system to stress vocational training, drug abuse education and health awareness; making health care more available and affordable to those who can`t get it now; and improving inadequate public bus transportation.

A small part of Graber`s medical practice involves performing abortions. Some people are trying to make this an issue. It is not, and should not become one.

Graber`s Republican opponent is Fred Corrie, 54, of Coral Springs, president of the Florida Association of Mortgage Brokers.

DISTRICT 95 ANNE MACKENZIE, DEMOCRAT

Anne Mackenzie deserves re-election to the District 95 Florida House seat due to her solid record of accomplishment during three terms.

Mackenzie, 41, a Democrat, has shown a steady increase in influence and effectiveness and a rising stature as a valued team player in the House power structure. If re-elected, she is in line for a key leadership role.

She worked effectively as majority whip this year, helping rally votes needed to pass leadership programs. As chairman of the Broward County legislative delegation, she has become a peacemaker and negotiator.

Other posts included being a member of the Finance and Taxation Committee, vice-chairman of the Joint Legislative Information Technology Resource Committee and the Governmental Operations Committee, and chairman of two subcomittees.

She played a key role in making sure Broward collected millions of dollars in state funding for vitally needed social services, education and transportation projects.

If re-elected, she wants to concentrate on issues relating to solving problems associated with criminal justice, transportation, appropriations and finance and taxation.

She now works as director of development for a law office. Her Republican opponent is Nathaniel Trigoboff, 36, a Fort Lauderdale hearing aid specialist.

DISTRICT 99 WALTER YOUNG, REPUBLICAN

Walter Young`s 16-year legislative career and his notable record of educational leadership in the Florida Legislature make him an easy choice for re-election to the state House seat in District 99.

Young, 66, a Pembroke Pines Democrat, has been in the House since since 1972. He played a key leadership role in many state educational reforms and education spending programs.

This year, Young served as chairman of the powerful Finance and Tax Committee. There, he helped win approval of a $4 million Pembroke Pines multi- purpose center and $2.3 million for new classrooms at the south campus of Broward Community College.

Young also is a member of the Insurance Committee, chairing the subcommittee on property and casualty insurance, the Regulated Industries and Licensing Committee, and the Education K-12 Committee, chairing an oversight subcommittee on dropouts and drugs.

If elected, he wants to continue to work for improved education funding and better higher educational opportunities for South Florida. He vows to fight to uphold strict growth management rules and says the state must reform its tax system to finance numerous unmet needs associated with high growth.

His Republican opponent, whom he defeated two years ago, is Lily Guzman, 36, of Miramar, manager of programming and public affairs for independent TV station WYHF, Channel 69, in Hollywood.

Guzman is a credible candidate, who has done much to improve her stature and to solidify her thinking in the past two years, offers potential for the future. She lives just outside the district she is seeking to represent; she would have to be living in the district on election day in order to legally take office.